Mayor cut short for meet

ISAAC Regional Council Mayor Cedric Marshall had just 12 minutes to tell Deputy Premier Paul Lucas about the plight of regional mining communities when they met in Brisbane last week.

The saying “12 minutes is a long time in politics” didn’t really apply as Mr Marshall said he didn’t have a chance to discuss in full the issues facing his council, especially the Adaptive Communities initiative developed by the IRC.

“He (Mr Lucas) was late to the meeting so he was only there for about 12 minutes,” Mr Marshall said yesterday of the meeting held last Wednesday which he wanted to give traction and recognition to a landmark program hoped to become a blueprint for other resource towns in the country.

“We did get a chance to discuss the ULDA and the possibility of extending the community consultation time.

“But he told us there would be no extension for community consultation.”

The meeting was meant to be an opportunity for the IRC to detail to the State Government how extensive and innovative the Adaptive Communities process was with regard to community input and involvement, and giving residents the chance to say what they wanted to see in their towns.

However, the 12 minutes Mr Lucas gave to the region’s mayor was not sufficient for a full debriefing.

Opposition leader Jeff Seeney, with whom Mr Marshall also met with last week, was more receptive.

“He wanted to be kept informed about how we’re going, and that meeting was more productive than with Paul Lucas,” he said.